| Title | : | Aquaman, Volume 6: Maelstrom |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1401254411 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781401254414 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published July 7, 2015 |
Collecting: Aquaman 32-40 & material from Secret Origins 2, 5
Aquaman, Volume 6: Maelstrom Reviews
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(B+) 77% | Good
Notes: In flashbacks, familial angst, frankenfish and frailty, it’s a battle-laden travelogue, and makes no waves with novelty. -
3.5 stars
I wasn't looking forward to reading this after how awful the last volume was to slog through.
Sea of Storms was enough to stop this hardcore Aquaman fan for quite a while.
It was such a chore to read that I put this one off for about 6 months, and now I'm sorry I did because Maelstrom was a huge improvement!
The main story focuses on Arthur trying to find out why Atlantis is having seaquakes. Which leads to him discovering the city seems to be rejecting him, then finding out that there are still some mysteries surrounding his mother's death.
Martian Manhunter shows up to help out, which reminded me (once again) what a cool character he is and how much I wish DC would give him his own movie deal.
The highlight of the volume, though?
The 2 Secret Origin stories for Arthur and Mera that were included.
I think I've read the Aquaman issue before, but this was the first time reading this version of Mera's story. Very cool.
PLUS. There's a visit to Gorilla City!
Gorilla Grodd is one of my favorite all-time villains. I have no logical explanation for that, but I sort of squeal internally every time he shows up on page.
*shrugs*
And that leads to a resolution (of sorts) with Arthur's mommy issues. Also, Mera gets to show off her badassery in a spectacular fashion.
Why? Because she's Mera.
BOOM!
This volume gave me hope that maybe finishing out Aquaman's New 52 run won't be as painful as I thought it would be.
Recommended for Aquafans! -
The creative team of Jeff Parker, Paul Pelletier and Sean Parsons are at the top of their game with Aquaman. The stories are fun and exciting. I've been a fan of Pelletier's since he was starting out on Ex-Mutants. It seems he was made to draw underwater scenes as this is some of his best work. The Aquaman movie does draw from the Maelstrom arc.
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This was a rare volume that only seemed to get stronger as it went along, involving a driven Aquaman seeking answers about his mother's death. There are some hugely entertaining stops along the way, and disparate elements of DC Mythology are cleverly woven into the Undersea Realm's past.
Plus, Mera is seriously on point throughout- I love it when the titular hero's wife/partner is arguably more powerful than he is! -
Much, much better than volume 5, the plot lasts the full volume instead of 1 or 2 issues. It's a good little read, it has a great start and a neat wrapped up ending somewhere in the middle it kinda loses focus with the gorillas and everything else but overall it's worth picking up.
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Astounding. Jeff Parker as definitely made Aquaman an exciting and not to miss series for the DC comics universe. I am amazed at how this series has maintained such high quality content for so long even with the change of writers. The last volume was a little weak but the seeds Jeff Parker planted in that volume have certainly been fruitful in this volume. In volume 6 of Aquaman we find out that the continent of Atlantis has literally been rejecting him. This really begins to confuse the would be king Arthur aka Aquaman who is consistently battling inwardly with whether or not he belongs on the surface or if he is the rightful king of Atlantis. The first have of the story finds Arthur battling an experimented human/sea creature hybrid named Chimera. Who I must say was a pretty cool challenge for our hero since Chimera could communicate with sea life, transform into any form of sea creature and is just as strong as Aquaman. The next part of our tale finds Arthur discovering that Atlantis has hidden gateways that open to other worlds. Arthur and Mera must travel these gateways to discover not only why Atlantis is having tremors in rejection of Arthur as king but discover the truth about Arthur's mother's death. I do not want to spoil the story so I will just say we get a great globe trotting adventure and some inter-dimensional traveling to some familiar worlds known only to die hard DC comics fans. Guest stars include the Martian Manhunter, Solovar and the incredible flash villain Gorilla Grodd.
Paul Pelletier's artwork was fantastic and the character moments are great here as well. The Maelstrom story line had everything I want in a superhero comic. A great action story that never loses sight of the most important factor: the Hero. This was one of the best Aquaman tale's I have read since Geoff John's Throne of Atlantis. I hope Aquaman continues to give us more great adventure stories. -
I'm really in the middle on this one. It's more like a 2.5 but I gave it a 3 simply because I liked more than I disliked. This volume is kind of split. First half is just a generic looking fish monster named Chamire or whatever choosing to show how "strong" he is by going after Aquaman. It's pretty boring and honestly worried this volume would be a total dud.
Then the second half kicks in and we get Arthur traveling with mara to different portals to find his....MOMA! That's right mofos, big moma ain't dead yet! It's pretty entertaining watching him jump around to visit Mr. Grodd who's just a big old baby now days. Then we find someone important and all hell breaks loose.
What I liked: Watching Aquaman go after his moma brought up some good emotion. I loved watching him vs Grodd. Very entertaining. I also love Mara, of course, cause she so damn fine and so damn badass. Her last few panels in this book were FANTASTIC. I also am eager to see where we go from here.
What I didn't like: The first few issues were a total dud. Like the worst in the entire New52 run. I also didn't feel any emotion to a death because the character was kind of...lame? Oh and Aquaman's mom is kind of a bitch.
Overall it was decent fun but nothing to write home about. Seems that's the calling of most Aquaman stories not written by my dude Johns. Sad. Still. I SHALL FINISH THIS RUN! -
Quite an improvement over the previous volume. This one actually has a coherent storyline, instead of random, dull monsters. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of story I can get excited over. What's the point in resurrecting a long dead character? One who has, as far as I can tell, never actually been alive in any of Aquaman's previous adventures. Literally no grave is safe in comics. I find this sort of story pointless far more often than not. But hey, at least Parker tried this time.
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A solid volume. Better than Volume 5. 3.5 stars rounded up.
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A Martin Manhunter, Gorilla City, sea monsters and more Atlantean History. This goes back to revealing the engaging history of Atlantis making it better than the previous graphic novel. There are arguably too many subplots in this graphic novel.
Great artwork as before and a fast read.
MY GRADE: B plus. -
I loved the world building but the wonky ending really dropped the book down a star.
I like Parker's Aquaman, sure it's not Johns' Aquaman but it's also good in different ways. So, this time we get more history and lore and for me that's a great thing cause I like me some world building.
World: Pelletier's art is good, especially his monsters. He's also good a framing action and creating scope, especially for the giant creature fights. He's perfect for this series. The world building by Parker is also great, he is nearly on par with Johns in terms of his scope and his ambition when it comes to creating a complete world with lore and myths for Arthur and Co. to play in. The Maelstrom arc was ambitious, the world building was amazing. The only thing that hindered this book was the overly focus on action that should have been spent on this world and also character building.
Story: The end of the Chimera storyline was fun, it was purely a Arthur v. Creature story and it was fun for what it was so let's leave it at that (I really like the design of Chimera). Maelstrom is where the main story is and this is a grand scope of a tale. I really liked the world building and the lore and the ties to Arthur's past and how it relates to Atlantis, this was a great story to tell and a piece of this world that I am very interested in. The 6 issues in general do their job, until issues 5 and 6 that is, that's when things kinda fall apart emotionally (which I'll get to in the character section as that's the heart of the tale and the biggest issue I have with the book). The pacing was alright, but I did feel that we spent way too much time on action instead of settling down like Parker's last arc and just letting the world and characters build. A lot of interesting facts were thrown at the reader and more time to digest and having it enfold slower would have done wonders for the story, but the action kind of got in the way. The resolution is unsatisfying and very rushed and a great story is now just an okay one.
Characters: This is the heart of the tale and should have been the main focus of the story, not the action sequences. The story of Atlanna would have had a huge emotional impact on the reader and Arthur, but with the rush of action and the wasted battling of issues 5 and 6 we don't get any of the payoff that we really want to see. This is about a Mother/Son relationship now a giant volcano monster. That is this arc's biggest flaw, it's lack of focus on the heart of the matter. The first couple of issues was quite enjoyable as readers were going closer and closer to the expected emotional payoff of Atlanna, but we never get that except the last page of issue 6. It's a shame, this should have been the biggest area in the book but it's the least.
An interesting story, wonderful world building but drops the ball in terms of characters. This is a missed opportunity.
Onward to the next book! -
Originally reviewed at
Bookwraiths.
When I read the first book of The New 52 Aquaman I was hooked. This series amazing, because of three things: great characters, interesting stories, and awesome illustrations. I can tell you that this a series every super hero lover really needs to read. Aquaman has never been so good!
This book starts out fairly slow with the origins of Aquaman and Mera. Then we get a cool new enemy in Chimer; a human/sea monster thing, who is really cool. And, finally, the real story starts where Arthur’s past comes back to haunt him. This big mystery might be a little confusing unless you’ve read the story up to this point, but if you hang on, you can catch up quickly.
For those you don’t already know, Aquaman aka Arthur Curry was born to a human and an Atlantean. Arthur only a baby when his mother Atlanna left him in the surface world with his father, while she returned to the depths to rule Atlantis. Her plan to one day go back to her land family. But things didn’t turn out to well for Arthur’s mom though; an assassin killing her shortly after she takes the throne. Or, at least, that is what Arthur has always been told.
From here, Jeff Parker and the crew do a great job creating a page turner. The mysteries keep coming. Arthur keeps kicking butt. There are some jokes. A few “what the hades” pages. Martian Manhunter, Gorilla City, and Grodd show up, and the story gets over way too fast.
A year ago my dad told me I really needed to read Aquaman. Really wasn’t very excited about it. Aquaman seemed pretty lame. But as I read that first graphic novel and the ones after I liked the stories more and more. Now, if you asked me my favorite, I would probably still say volume one was the best, but this sixth volume was really good and probably my second favorite, especially how Aquaman and Mera’s pasts are explained. So I’d encourage all comic lovers to give Aquaman a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Well, I hope you liked this review, and friend me any time to ask questions about my reviews. -
I have enjoyed the Aquaman series so much. I started reading it as soon as the New 52 relaunched all the comics and I think it is still wonderful. In this comic we read about how Atlantis has been rejecting him. There have been many earthquakes and whatnot. This is because Arthur is half human and have Atlantian. He is trying to figure out how to fix this. In this issue the Martian Manhunter, Solovar and the flash villain Gorilla Grodd all make an appearance. Mera is such a strong character in the Aquaman comics, she isn't made some sort of sidekick. She is pretty much a main character. I really love the art work too. There is a great villain in this comic too, the Chimera, who is a good match for Aquaman especially since the Chimera can also speak to and control sea life.
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The quality jump from Parker's first issues to this is huge. It's like he was trying to figure out which story to tell and then finally got around to it with this Maelstrom arc. Granted it's still a bit drawn out and has some unneeded cameos, but there's an interesting mystery at the core that revolves around Arthur's mother. The seeds for this arc were already planted in Johns' run, so this feels like an organic continuation from the end of his series.
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Perfect. Jeff Parker is a master. AQUAMAN has been consistently excellent since its New 52 debut, one of only a VERY few to be so.
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Hmmm. Well. Lot of hand-wavy comic book science here. Not the best collection of stories.
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I found this much more enjoyable than the last volume. I could have done without the Mera/Arthur how they met origin in the first 2 issues, but enjoyed the other 8 issues. The Plot probably could have been done in 2 to 3 issues, but I am a sucker for cameos, action, and good artwork. (unless the cameos are Wolverine or Batman...enough already!)
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So let me start off by saying this book is so much better the the last volume like by a ridiculous amount. After volume 5 I thought there was no hope left for Aquaman they changed writers and it was a debacle. But volume 6 recovered quite nicely, it started out with a big fight with an equally matched foe. Then went in to a mystical mystery story with Aquaman trying to find out what happened to his mother with a cool cameo from Martian Manhunter. This volume was exactly what the series needed to get it back where it belongs among the best of DCs flagship titles.
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It could have gotten a four star review.. if this volume wouldn't have had this uninteresting start with Chimera. Totally lacking in depth and just some nobrainer action in there..
But, for the second part I was really getting into it, finding his mommy :)
There they at least had a decent story, and some good bonus characters like J'onn and Grodd..
And of course the art in here is quite decent ;) -
I'm not a huge fan of the concept that Mera was an assassin, sent to kill Aquaman; but, the story maintains its intensity, and Aquaman continues to be the best book series that DC is putting out right now.
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Desde que comenzaron los Nuevos 52 Aquaman se ha caracterizado por ser una de las series más populares e importantes de la editorial. Arthur Curry ha pasado de ser el Bufón de DC a ser el Rey de Atlantis, el patriarca de los oceanos.
Totalmente recomendable! -
Better than the last trade but still not as good as Johns run but still readable
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My feelings for Mera can only be expressed with heart emojis
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3,5/5. Ça commençait mal, je m'ennuyais, mais toute la deuxième moitié était très cool ! Et j'ai aussi aimé les deux "secret origins" à la fin, surtout celle sur Mera.
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Jeff Parker’s stewardship comes to an end with a mixed bag of storylines that ties up some loose ends before Cullen Bunn takes over.
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Maelstrom is where Jeff Parker's Aquaman shines. In an otherwise fun yet unexceptional run, this volume pulls off a globe-trotting adventure with great emotional payoff. Maelstrom has a lot going for it. Good art courtesy of Paul Pelletier, significant stakes for Atlantis and Arthur, an emotional close to Parker's run that Johns' somewhat lacked in his own conclusion - for my money, this could easily be a great end for Arthur's story. There are a few unexpected cameos that play an active role, yet none of them feel inorganic to what's going on. Their inclusions make sense with what resources Arthur has at his disposal, and none of the characters overstay their welcome. I really dig the concept of Atlantis's continent rejecting Arthur, manifesting his struggle with his kingship in a more literal sense. The story, like the rest of Parker's run, carries a classic pulp adventure feel, and I think it works in Maelstrom's favor. I don't want to talk it up too much - it doesn't quite hit the highs of Johns' run - but this book's awesome. It also comes with some material from the New 52 Secret Origins book that was pretty enjoyable, especially Mera's section.
Unfortunately, the first few issues revolving around the Chimera don't quite hit the same highs. There's a good idea behind an antagonist with his set of abilities, but his origin borders on ridiculousness. And while I do really like Maelstrom, I can see people taking issue with a certain character's decisions toward the end.
Maelstrom is not a perfect book, but I don't think it gets enough attention. Jeff Parker's run might not be a masterpiece, but this is by far his best contribution to the Aquaman mythos. If you're an Aquaman fan, consider checking it out. -
It’s been a while since the last Aquaman book and right away you can see why - Maelstrom has the equivalent of ten issues or two volumes in one. That stockpiling tactic is something you usually see when a title isn’t selling well which I don’t think Aquaman is because it sucks. The good news is that Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier’s Aquaman series has at least gotten coherent but the bad news is that it still hasn’t grown much of a brain.
The book opens with two short origins of Aquaman and Mera, in case you forgot who they were, and then we’re into the first arc which features a new villain called Chimera, a failed experiment evil mighty morphin monster who can control sea creatures better than Aquaman. The two fight, fight, and fight some more, and that’s it. It’s about as shallow as a rock pool and twice as smart!
The second and final arc sees Aquaman learning that his mother Atlanna is still alive and he sets out to find her. There’s a couple of pointless cameos from Martian Manhunter and Gorilla Grodd before Aquaman discovers his mother’s a fucking idiot. The instant she sees him she gets her followers to try and kill him - no talking, no semblance of reason or curiosity that you’d expect from an intelligent being, just ATTACK KILL DESTROY! What a dumbass.
Pelletier’s artwork is really strong throughout (even if he’s still the poor man’s Ivan Reis) but Parker’s simple, boring stories are really only suited to Saturday morning cartoon audiences who just want to see Aquaman and Mera hitting things. Aquaman remains a must-not-read title - good job, guys! -
I am still shocked by just how good the New 52 Aquaman comic series. It may be the best of the New 52 titles, and that's a strong statement.
In this one we have short origins of Aquaman and Mera. Then we get to see Aquaman battling a new enemy, Chimer. It's a pretty badass villain made up of human, seamonster and almost any other sea creature's DNA you can think of, giving him some cool powers. This was my favorite storyline.
Then we have a story dealing with Aquaman's mother, and what really happened the night she was assassinated. Throw in an appearance by Martian Manhunter, Gorilla City, and Grodd, and you have a really good story.
And the art is gorgeous. That's part of why I enjoy the stories so much, Paul Pelletier's tremendous art. You almost feel you're under the ocean seeing every vibrant color come to life.
Just a really good series. If you're a comic fan, you really need to give the New 52 Aquaman a shot. -
I didn't expect to cry, yet here we are.
I'm coming at this having read some of the early volumes, and having tried to stay with the current run. At this point, I'm not entirely certain what stories happened when or of it was within the volume. (Only a slight exaggeration)
I've really enjoyed the expansion of lore we've had. There's a bigger playground for the underwater world. As always, I've enjoyed Mera and Arthur's relationship as something devoted, healthy, and not dramatized. (ok ok at least so far)
I'd like to sit down and enjoy this series altogether some time. So, until then, see ya'll in Rebirth.
Edit: I read through my reviews/reactions to the soft reboot (DC YOU) and all I ever talked about was Mera lol. So yeah... that storyline. I see. -
Initially it dragged on a bit, but then all of a sudden things were super fast paced. I also could see the heavy inspiration from this volume in particular into the film, in terms of Atlana. The art was different and did not fit well in one issue early on but became excellent in the other issues as it normally is. Overall I still loved this despite its flaws.
